Playing God: Shelley’s Monster in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Karim, Manizeh Mariyam

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Playing God: Shelley’s Monster in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Karim, Manizeh Mariyam

Abstract

This dissertation is a literary exploration of the role Artificial Life can potentially play in the 21st Century. The research section focuses on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, as an archetype which shows the importance of the scientific element found in the science fiction genre. For the purpose of this exploration, I will explore Shelley’s Monster and Victor in light of creation and creator, and the anxiety that surrounds the two roles they play. Furthermore, I will also draw parallels with the novel and today’s anxiety in creating Artificial Life, in effort to understand that we are not far off from what we create. Intertextuality also holds a great significance in her novel as Shelley draws from different writers and meshes their work seamlessly, within the plot of the story. The Creative Writing section further explores this anxiety, and intertextuality through an epic poem. Divided by eight small poems, the epic reworks Shelley’s Frankenstein, in a dystopian setting. In the voice of Mary Shelley, the poem explores the creation of a cyborg, through Computer Science, as the new Monster.